GENEVA (Reuters Health) – With negotiations on a global treaty to control tobacco underway, the World Health Organization has launched a campaign to eliminate tobacco industry involvement in sports.
Backed by soccer's governing body, FIFA, the International Olympic Committee and the International Automobile Federation, WHO kicked-off its "Tobacco Free Sports–Play it Clean" campaign here on Thursday.
"Tobacco is a communicated disease–communicated through advertising and sponsorship," the UN health body said in a statement on Thursday. "Perhaps the most pernicious form of that marketing pitch is to be found in stadia and sports arenas worldwide."
The agency says that tobacco products kill more than four million people every year, a figure expected to increase to 8.4 million people annually by 2020.
The campaign aims to rid sporting events of smoking as well banning tobacco sponsorship or advertising. The 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games in the US and the 2002 FIFA World Cup in the Republic of Korea and Japan will both be free of tobacco, WHO said.
Meanwhile, the US delegation at the tobacco treaty negotiations signalled in a speech that it might be unable to back a total ban on tobacco advertising because of the US constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech.
Kenneth Bernard, assistant US Surgeon-General who heads the delegation, said there was a need to consider optional protocols on tricky issues such as advertising and smuggling.
"A group of countries might have legal and constitutional issues that prevent adoption of a complete ban on advertising, for example," he told Reuters. "An optional protocol might involve those countries that have the latitude and are able to go further."
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